Earthly Wonders
by ThatisneverThat
Summary: Danny Pink isn't dead! In fact Clara and him are very much alive and kicking. A series of semi-one shots, all set in the same AU where the finale never happened! Hopefully in chronological order. More information inside.
1. News

**So my intention is to make these semi-one shots. They'll all be set in the same AU, probably in chronological order, but probably there'll be time gaps between each one? If that makes sense? Cool **** Here's number one. **

_She stood there, staring at the flowers and the cards once again. He was still gone, the Doctor couldn't save him, she couldn't save him, she'd not only lost the man she loved but she'd betrayed her best friend too. Slowly she walked forward to the memorial, if you could call it that, and fell down on her knees picking up a bunch of flowers that were new since she'd last been. She couldn't read the card through the tears, but it looked like the handwriting of a year 8, it looks like a pupil. That's it, the last straw; she doesn't know what else to do. "THIS ISN'T FAIR!" She screamed, thumping the floor with her hands. "IT'S NOT…" _

Clara woke up with a start, pushing the covers off as she felt so warm. She was shaking and however hard she tried, she couldn't stop. That felt so real, too real, it couldn't be true. Panicking, she felt around for her phone and frantically dialled in the number, no time to go through her contacts and she knew it off by heart anyway. She was crying, but she'd only just noticed and it was too late to do much about it now.

"Clara? It's 3 in the morning are you alright?" It didn't actually occur to her how late it was when she had woken, reality hadn't completely kicked in yet.

"You're… okay…" the crying was stopping her ability to speak properly, the mild panic wasn't helping much either.

"Yeah I am, but you're not. I'm coming over okay, I won't be long okay? You are at home right?"

"Yes… be careful… I love you…" was all she could get out. Danny was coming, that was good, but her dream was still lingering and she didn't need a repeat of that. He reassured her he'd be alright before hanging up.

The next 10 minutes seemed to last a lifetime and when the doorbell finally rang she couldn't seem to move properly to answer it, but luckily Danny knew where the spare key was and let himself in. She heard him run upstairs and felt his arms wrap around her as soon as he found her. Clara wanted to speak, she wanted to apologise or at least say hello, but she couldn't and instead she just buried herself in his chest, allowing herself to cry because if she didn't, she would probably explode. Danny, being Danny, just allowed her to let it all out and held her to try and stop her shaking. How did she deserve him? Maybe she didn't.

It must have been an hour, maybe longer before she finally managed to calm down. All that time Danny had asked no questions and expected no answers, in fact all he did was hug her and make tea. Finally she sat up, taking the tea from him and sat against the headrest of the bed. He moved in alongside her, still waiting for her to speak first.

"I'm sorry." Finally she managed to pluck up the energy to speak. "I don't know what happened I just had a really bad dream, but it felt so real and you were…" she still couldn't say it, but Danny obviously knew.

"Well I can assure you I'm most definitely here and absolutely fine, if a little tired. It really shook you up though didn't it? If you don't mind me asking… is there any reason why…?"

That stopped her mid-tea, and not much stopped Clara mid-tea. She hadn't thought about that yet, quite frankly she hadn't got very far thinking about anything which wasn't really helping. But now the question had been asked, the answer was unusually obvious but this wasn't how she'd intended to talk about it.

"Something happened last night, that's where the dream started. I was trying to work out how to tell you and…" Clara looked over to the post it notes attached to her shelf out in the next room. Danny's gaze followed hers but she doubted he could read them from so far away. "I fell asleep thinking about it, worrying about it I guess? It sort of developed from there, a lot, I don't really know why you… I can't explain that. Or the rest of it… I became a different person in that dream Danny, I manipulated the Doctor, let him down…" Danny was trying to process all that information, Clara could see it. He'd have even more to process soon if she went much further.

"Okay, first of all, you would never let him down. It was just a dream Clara, you need to remember that. Secondly, I can't tell you why I died either, but I'll refer back to the dream thing. Finally, what did you need to tell me?" He asked. Clara put her tea down, getting out of the bed for the first time since Danny had arrived. She almost smiled at his face watching her, men will always be men even when they're Danny Pink right?

She walked out to the next room, reading each post-it as she went past it. '_Tell Him!' 'Three Months.' 'Tell him tell him tell him.' _Her mind had been thinking really illogically last night… they were a bit of a mess in a way. Truth was, she still didn't know how she was going to do this, but she couldn't lie to him now. Looking back in to the bedroom, Clara realised he hadn't actually moved. Danny was watching her, looking concerned and yet still with that beautiful look he held especially for her. It made her feel warm, special, comforted whenever she saw it. It was the look she fell in love with, it was that look which made Danny stand out, made him different to everyone else. The truth is, Danny Pink cares for her more than anyone else in the world, he always will, and right now she was trying to work out how to tell him something that could, no – would change everything. Clara turned round, that knowing turn when she's finally worked out what to say, and needs to say it before she changes her mind.

"I took a test last night…" she paused, no. No turning back now.

"Really? What subject?" Danny had already responded, Clara rolled her eyes a little – once a teacher, always a teacher.

"Sex education?" Might as well go with the flow.

"Is there even a test in that I mean… oh…" and the penny drops. Clara nodded, walking back over to the bed and kneeling beside him, taking his hand and looking at his face, trying to work out what it was saying. "So I'm guessing you passed?" Really? He was still keeping this up? Only Danny Pink.

"With flying colours yeah…" Now he went quiet, he seemed to be looking at her and trying to work something out. "Danny please say something?" He didn't speak straight away, instead Danny pushed himself round so he was kneeling in front of her. He placed one hand on her cheek and removed the other hand from hers, positioning it on her stomach.

"I guess that means we're going to be a family then doesn't it." Danny smiled, leaning forward and kissing her gently. Clara felt herself relax properly for the first time since she'd found out, returning the kiss and allowing herself to smile. They parted, but their foreheads stayed touching.

"I guess it does. And if I'm right with my calculations then I'm probably about 3 months gone. But we'll have to get that confirmed." She sighed softly, placing a hand over Danny's on her stomach, lacing their fingers. "I was so scared about what you might say."

"Hey, why wouldn't I be happy? I love you, Clara Oswald. I mean that. This is just the beginning right?" Clara nodded.

"Right. And it should begin with you being here on a more permanent basis… maybe you should hold on to that spare key." Clara nodded over to where he'd placed the key on the side. Danny grinned, kissing her again.

"Then we can get looking for our own place, this little one deserves a garden at least." Clara moved round, laying back down on the bed and pulling him with her. "There's really no point in going back to sleep now you know?" Danny pointed out, Clara grinned and shook her head, turning on to her side and kissing him gently.

"I have no intention of sleeping now…" Clara smiled, and they spent the rest of the night celebrating.

**Let me know what y'all think! **


	2. Moving In

**First: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR AMAZING LOVE AND REVIEWS GUYS! 3**

**Don't expect a chapter a day all the time though :P! This one just sort of came to me so I had to write it and I had spare time so here we are :). Currently I have one more chapter planned before my Christmas chapter, so there might be a bit of a break before the next one, but that could all change…. Anyway, this is set about a month after the last. Enjoy! **

Clara had to be honest, that alarm never got easier, but at least now she had something to look forward to when she woke up. She turned on to her side, expecting to see Danny lying there but when she noticed the bed was empty, her eyes rolled. As she was just about to remove the duvet and get up, the bedroom door opened and in walked a fully dressed Danny handling 2 mugs of tea.

"And when did you get up?" Clara asked, taking the tea and smiling a thank you.

"A couple of hours ago I suppose? Just went for a run and then finished packing up the living room for you..." Sweet as it was, Clara did find herself a little frustrated at times.

"I can still do this things, I'm 4 months pregnant not 4 months from death you know?" Something she had decided was that it was practically impossible to be annoyed at Danny, he always had her best interests at heart, but that didn't mean she couldn't stand her ground occasionally.

"Beautiful and hormonal, what more could I ask for on a Friday morning?" Danny took everything in his stride, this man was ridiculously nice. He sat down beside her on the bed and kissed her good morning. "You ready for today?"

"Well apparently the answer is now yes, minus the 5 lessons with hyperactive teenagers who can't wait a few hours for the summer holidays to begin, but then I'll be as ready as I can ever be yeah. How on earth did you manage to swing today off anyway?" Clara sipped her tea, leaning over so her head was resting on his shoulder.

"I played the pregnant girlfriend card of course!" Clara looked up suddenly with a concerned look on her face, they weren't meant to be telling anyone yet. "Relax, I already had it booked off for something else so no explanation needed. It makes sense for me to go to the house and make sure everything's clean and ready." Danny smiled and Clara relaxed her head back down, giving him a mini slap to the leg.

"Don't scare the pregnant lady! But yes, it does make sense." Clara couldn't help but grin wildly at the right of them being in their own house. It was great Danny being at hers, but all his stuff wasn't there, it didn't feel like their own. The house hunting had been remarkably easy, in fact she was convinced Danny had been researching this already, but that didn't matter.

"Oh now you play the pregnancy card! Cheeky mare. You're lucky I love you." Clara grinned, kissing him one last time before getting herself up.

Normally the last day before the holidays went quick, but not today. It was last lesson, but they had a final assembly before the end if the day so there were still 2 hours remaining. Year 10 was the last thing she ever needed on a Friday afternoon but unfortunately there was no getting out of this. To make life easy she'd settled for letting them watch 'Of Mice and Men' as they'd been studying it anyway, but that didn't calm the slight dread she felt as they walked in.

"Afternoon Miss!" Courtney Woods, what a pleasure... Clara smiled the best she could manage and turned round to finish setting up the DVD. "Miss are you pregnant?" Clara froze slightly before carrying on pitting the DVD in, but the class had gone silent, except for one. "You've been really moody recently, and you've been wearing baggy tops for about a month now... plus Mr Pink has been like the exact opposite. " She could feel Courtney's cheeky smile burning in to her back so she turned around, putting on a smile.

"I assure you that what Mr Pink and I wear has so bearing on anything you need to be concerned with. All I need you to worry about is watching this film." She smiled, handing out some sheets. "Oh, and your homework for the summer. Enjoy! "

"No but I didn't mean..." Courtney began; Clara paused when she reached her desk.

"I know what you meant Courtney, but another word and you'll be in big trouble alright? Just an hour, that's all you have to give me for 6 weeks." She slumped back and Clara silently claimed success, of course after the summer would be a different story, but that was a problem for another day.

The day finally came to an end and Clara was attempting to pack up quickly without looking too rushed.

"Need a hand?" Danny was standing in the door frame watching her organising piles of books. "You look like you've had a fabulous day." Clara gave him a look to let him know the sarcasm was not appreciated. "New question, need a hug?" She nodded, walking over and putting her arms around him, leaning gently against him.

"Just tiring, and Courtney is on to us so I had a mini grilling, but I think I deflected her. She gave in surprisingly easily to be honest." Danny just listened, as he often did. Eventually she pulled away and went back to sorting out her books. "I'm nearly ready; can you put the chairs up?" Danny did so and finally they are ready to leave.

As they returned to the car he explained that the house was ready for them and that he'd checked and everything had been left in a good condition - it was a new house so she'd hoped that wouldn't be a problem. As they pulled up in the drive and Danny turned off the engine she reached over and took his hand.

"Clara Oswald, welcome home..." he smiled, kissing her gently and then stepped out of the car. They walked to the door and Danny handed Clara a key. "Go on, in you go." She looked behind her and saw the grin on his face, having no idea what might be behind the door she turned the key and pushed the door open, immediately her jaw dropped. "What did you… how did you…?" she walked in to the living room and looked around. Everything was in place, exactly as they'd talked about. There were new sofas, the TV was in a cabinet and there were electric candles on the coffee table flickering away. Everything looked perfect. Walking through in to the kitchen she found the same thing, everything in cupboards and tidied away.

Clara turned around to Danny, shaking her head in disbelief. He walked over, taking her hands in his and kissing her gently.  
>"You like it then?" Clara nodded, kissing him again. "I will admit to having had a bit of help, I'm not superman."<p>

"I've seen evidence to the contrary," Clara grinned.

"Yes well, not today. Why don't you go out in to the garden?" Danny swirled her round and she lead them out in to the garden where she found a sight she definitely wasn't expecting. There was a blanket laid out on the grass with food and a bottle. Clara looked up at Danny, part of her in complete wonder and a little bit of her confused about the wine. "That's what comes of not telling your Dad yet, I didn't know about that bit." In all honesty she was still a little confused, but that didn't seem to matter right now. They sat down on the blanket and Clara smiled, leaning back on her hands and looking up at the sky.

"Could it get more perfect than this?" She spoke up, watching the thin wispy clouds pass by as she stared in to the blue.

"I'm sort of hoping it will actually," Danny started; Clara looked down at this point trying to work out what was going on. "See the thing is, all this, it just feels right. I know it's happened sort of quickly, maybe accelerated by the baby but I feel like it always would have happened…" he paused, Clara looked on inquisitively but trying to show she agreed without interrupting him. "I'm not very good at this to be honest. I knew what I was going to say but you're actually very distracting you know?" Clara smiled, now she knew where this was going although part of her didn't want to be jumping to conclusions.

"Would it be better if I went inside or…?" She grinned and Danny rolled his eyes. Clara chuckled as she watched him trying to work out where he was in his little speech. "You know, English teacher or not, I don't need a big romantic speech Danny, I just need you. I love you, and all this right here tells me just how much you return that and I couldn't ask for any more. So get to the point will you?" Danny pulled her over so she was seated almost in his lap, leaning against his chest with her back.

"Close your eyes…" She did as told. While they were closed she could feel him moving about before his arms finally moved back around her waist. "Open them." And when she did, Clara found herself gasping. In front of her were two hands holding a small box, and inside that box was the most beautiful ring she'd ever seen. "I'm not doing this because of the baby," Danny's voice spoke softly behind her, "I'm doing this for us, so will you marry me?"

"Danny Pink you are unbelievable…" there were tears in her eyes, Clara could feel them building. She'd got used to hiding tears in the last few months with everything that had happened, but today was not one of those days because these tears were welcome, they symbolised everything she'd ever wanted. "How could I ever say no?"

Danny took the ring out and placed it on her finger. As soon as he'd completed that motion she knelt up and turned round to face him, kissing him softly. He wiped her tears gently away and Clara could see he was struggling not to let some loose himself. "You're going to have to text your Dad pretty soon or he'll be back round here and no offence, but 8 hours was plenty enough." Clara looked confused again, why did Danny keep talking about her Dad? "I mentioned I had help right? I might have stolen your phone about a week ago and got your Dad's number and then called him the next day to explain my plan. We might have met up that evening when I said I was going to meet Steve and I asked his permission then. And then today he was round here helping me get everything perfect in time, which we just about managed. He was still finishing when I left, hence the wine turning up I guess. Which reminds me, are you actually going to tell him?"

It took a moment to take all this in and work out when it had happened. She'd only spoken to her dad 2 days previously. "Right… I think I've got you. I'll text him, about this I mean, I think I'd better do the pregnant thing in person. I will tell him, honest. Now can we get back to the romantic thing where we weren't talking about my Dad?" Danny nodded, smiling and unpacking some of the food. "I think we're going to be very happy here, all three of us."

**I just need lots of pinkwald cuteness to counteract the pain from the finale to be honest, so there we go **


	3. Family Invasion

**I feel like this one got away with me, it also took 3 attempts to write! Here we are though, 'chapter' 3! So in case you're wondering at this point Clara is around 6 months pregnant. There will be one more shot before Christmas I think. Hope you enjoy this **

When Clara woke for around the fourth time that night she noticed an arm draped across her stomach. She smiled, Danny did this quite often when he was asleep and she didn't mind that, it was comforting. Unfortunately this unborn little monster had ideas other than comfort and another toilet trip was in order so she had to gently remove his arm and creep out of bed. She always did her best not to wake Danny when she had to get up in the night but that wasn't always easy, especially since the little one had some sort of growth spurt in the last month and she had somewhat ballooned over the summer. Tomorrow, or today really, was the first day back at school with the pupils. They'd had the joy of explaining everything once already to the staff at teacher training and the pupils are going to be a problem on a whole new level. Clara's was dreading it more now she knew which class she had first. Danny and she had discussed it and decided they would have to come clean to the pupils or life was only going to get more complicated, but it wasn't a conversation she was looking forward to having much if she was honest.

She made it back to bed with a remarkable lack of noise, maybe she was finally getting used to being 3 times a huge as normal. As she climbed back in to bed the arm very quickly rested back around her and she settled down, smiling gently back to sleep.

Less than 2 hours later and the alarm was going off. Unusually Danny was still asleep when she looked over so she left the alarm beeping away as she got up -shockingly she had to visit the loo again (this was going to make lessons somewhat entertaining if nothing else did). When she returned the alarm had stopped and Danny was nowhere to be seen so she headed down to the kitchen where she found him by the kettle.

"Morning sleepyhead," she said and gave him a quick kiss before turning round to retrieve mugs. "You slept like a baby last night, well not like this baby... in fact that phrase is pretty ridiculous if we're honest. You slept well anyway." Danny started laughing but obviously thought better of it.

"Rough night?" He went for instead. "You should've woken me if you were having trouble. "

"One of us needs to be conscious today and I really don't think you could've done much, this one was just using my bladder as a football. I'm almost certain it's nocturnal you know?" Clara placed one hand on her stomach, running gently. As much as she complained, she didn't really care at all.

"Why don't you go grab a shower to wake you up then? I'll sort breakfast ready for when you get out." Clara nodded and headed towards the bathroom, he was so very thoughtful.

Coming back downstairs she found an array of different breakfast options on the table and Danny completely ready to go, including having all her books together.

"Okay what did you do?" Clara looked suspicious at him, but trying not to seem too serious. They'd settled in to the house now, things were becoming more routine. Admittedly getting back in to school was a whole new routine, but she was still suspicious.

"Me? Would I ever? I just wanted you to have a good breakfast before a long day, especially after a rubbish night's sleep." There was still something he wasn't telling her, Clara sat down but kept eye contact with him, trying to eke out information. "I _may _have told your Dad he could come over for dinner tonight?" Clara paused mid tea sip.

"Why? When? HOW?! DANNY!" Clara couldn't quite work out what was going on here. As far as she'd been aware until this moment, Danny and her Dad had only spoken twice and both of those were 6 weeks ago. One thing that had certainly never happened was her Dad seeing them together. Danny sat down on the chair beside her and took her hand.

"It was a bit of an accident to be honest; he likes to talk doesn't he? But surely it'll be nice? Something to look forward to after work?" Clara smiled a little; it was sweet just how clueless Danny was about her family, but that wasn't surprising – it wasn't something she tended to mention in general, or indeed any conversation.

"Okay, Danny, here's the thing. My Dad probably means my Dad, my gran and… Linda. It means conversation ranging from politics to whether you fit on to Linda's list of boyfriends I should be with. But you asked for it… and you're cooking. I'm not going down that road, last Christmas was a nightmare." It suddenly dawned on her that last Christmas was the last time she saw Linda, and that this was unlikely to be pretty after the events then, but to be honest it was going to have to happen someday.

"Quick question, who's Linda?" Right, another thing she'd probably forgotten to mention, again for good reason.

"A woman with far too much interest in my life, and my Dad's other half. Apparently she has this list of guys I should be with… never mind anyway, you'll discover all this tonight. Let's go and surprise the school with pregnancy and engagement." Danny chuckled, kissing her gently before they stood up to leave.

A few hours later and they'd made it home again. Clara collapsed herself down on the sofa and leant back. It was an hour and a half before her family was due to arrive and she really had the energy to do just about nothing. Danny had headed back out again to pick up some ingredients he'd suddenly decided they needed, Clara had simply nodded and let him go. Tonight was going to be far from enjoyable, at least not in the way Danny was expecting that's for sure. Looking around she could see the place needed a tidy up, but that in itself seemed like a task too far. Clara sighed, she knew it was going to have to happen and so she stood up, starting to collect up various objects which were lying around on the coffee table.

Before she'd had a chance to get too far there was a knock on the door, Clara rolled her eyes figuring Danny had forgotten his keys, but that was not the sight on the other side of the door. She opened, smiling and ready to say something sarcastic, but she bit her tongue when she saw who was there.

"Sorry we're early, your Gran was getting impatient. Hope it's not too much of a problem!" Clara looked from Linda, who had spoken, to her Gran, who seemed to be suggesting it had nothing to do with her, and then back again before moving to allow them to come in.

"No, no of course not…" Clara lowered her voice slightly before continuing, "I've been in a whole 10 minutes." She sighed, shutting the door and following them through to the living room. Her Dad smiled and gave her a hug and she greeted him as normal before offering drinks.

"Lovely house you've got here, where's Daniel?" Linda was doing all the talking today it seemed, this was going to be fabulous.

"Danny," Clara paused to make her point, "is probably on his way back from the shops, we didn't really get a chance to pre-plan food what with the first day back and all that. Dinner might be a little while I'm afraid," she lowered her voice again, "but I'm sure you'll have enough questions to keep us going." Putting on a smile, she went back through with the drinks, and right on time Danny came back through the door.

"Hey I know you said I shouldn't… oh hello, sorry, didn't realise you'd arrived." Clara smiled and pushed him gently in the direction of the kitchen, shutting the door. "I thought your Dad said half 5?"

"Don't get me started, I haven't worked out why they're here early, the story is that Gran was getting impatient but she's denying that. Anyway, I'm already going a little bit crazy so please tell me this won't take long?" Clara leant against the side, watching Danny start to prepare various ingredients.

"I can probably have it in the oven in 10 minutes, reckon you can last that long?" Danny looked round, double checking she was okay. Clara nodded and started to head back out.

"10 minutes. I'm counting." Danny grinned as she left.

11 minutes 15 seconds later and Clara was still sat on her own being quizzed by all 3 family members. Her Dad had gone through asking about the pregnancy and how it was going and then went on to ask about wedding plans. Unfortunately Linda had started to stick her oar in at this point, and Clara was trying to hold her cool.

"But isn't this all a bit quick after the last one? Although I'm not sad you're over him I must say." She should have seen this topic coming really.

"Last one eh?" Oh right, now Danny returns. A minutes and a half earlier could have avoided this, but now an awkward conversation was upon her.

"He turned up to Christmas dinner with no clothes on; I mean honestly he was out of his mind Clara, I'm just glad to see you're not blubbing over it anymore." Danny was looking at her inquisitively, but she just shook her head and stared at the floor, trying to decide how to reply to all this.

"Linda I really don't think that's something Clara wants to discuss right now," _or ever?! _Clara was somewhat grateful for this interjection, but spoke up anyway.

"No please, let's have _this _conversation shall we?" Danny replied. He had positioned himself leaning against the arm rest of the sofa Clara was currently sat on, and she was pretty sure he was looking at Linda, who of course was more than happy to discuss that day.

"Well I won't lie he probably won on the looks, but I did see much more than I really needed to. And in the end all he caused was complete unhappiness for poor Clara, although she did disappear more than once… in fact the whole day was incredibly strange to be honest. We never heard anything about him after that. What was his name again? It was strange, but I have to say I wasn't focusing…" Clara was about to interrupt, but Danny got there first.

"I think I know. Excuse me; I've got dinner to look at." He stood up, walking towards the kitchen. Clara sighed; she didn't know how to feel right now. The memories of that day were pouring in and she could already feel tears forming, but the more important matter of the moment was that Danny had found out something he was never meant to have found out. Clara stood up, taking a moment to look over at Linda.

"Why would you do that?! Do you have no concept of self-control? You could been a _little _more subtle! I give up, I really do." Clara tried to stop herself from blowing up and walked away, following Danny in to the kitchen. When she got in there he was just stood in the corner, looking at the floor. There was nothing to be done with dinner now, she knew that. "Danny I…"

"it's him isn't it? The Doctor. I should've known really, that he was your…" he couldn't say it. "Was this when he looked like Adrian?"

"Yes. Well… yeah. But Danny I swear the boyfriend thing was just a cover story and the clothes thing was… an unfortunate incident. Honestly, I could see the clothes I had no idea…" Clara sighed and took a step forward. "Maybe I should have told you, but it was never anything important, I swear. I needed a cover story and that's all I had. Danny that… that was the day he changed. Well, actually it happened over quite a long time, but it was all Christmas Day for me. The idiot sent me home, twice, that's why I was crying, I didn't think I'd get back, I couldn't think of a way to save him."

"For once I'm with him." Danny spoke up, not looking up from the floor. "I'm sorry you were upset but clearly there was danger and he sent you away."

"I went back."

"I worked that out. I'm trying not to focus on that." Finally he lifted his head and looked her straight in the eye. Clara could see how much it hurt him to even consider the situation. "What happened?" That was a lot to explain.

"I got back, someone came and got me… he was dying. Long story short I told his people to help him, they did. He regenerated and… you know the rest. Danny, this is history, a whole different part of my life. Everything I need is right here in this room, we're going to have a family and I don't want or need anything else. I'm sorry you had to find out like that, I'm sorry I've screwed up again, but there's no lying right now, you can see that right?" There was a long pause following this, Clara didn't break eye contact and took his hand gently, placing it on her stomach. "Someone's having their say…" Danny smiled a little and seemed to relax.

"You're right, it was a long time ago as things go… we've got bigger things to worry about haven't we? This one's going to take up all our time from now on." Clara nodded, kissing him tentatively which is responded to. "We should probably go back in… dinner's nearly ready. Just a few hours and it'll all be over." Clara rolled her eyes.

"Aren't you looking forward to Christmas already?" They both laughed and headed out, prepared for anything.

**There we go then! Let me know if you enjoyed, and see you soon! **


	4. Early Surprises

**2 things:**

**Thing 1 – The Doctor lies. No, wait, wrong list.  
>Thing 1 - This is the last chapter pre-christmas, probably, because I have to do uni work and because the time fits. IF I get the urge to write, I <strong>_**might **_**fit in another chapter because I do have an idea for something between this point and Christmas but I won't promise anything. I do promise a long Christmas chapter however **

**Thing 2 – I just want to point out again this is set in an AU where Danny never died. The first chapter happens basically instead of the finale episodes. **

**Cool, let's carry on **

_November 20th_

"You don't look right this morning…" Clara walked in to the bedroom to find Danny sat up in bed, he'd been asleep when she'd went out to make tea, and apparently had forgotten how to be complimentary overnight.

"And good morning to you too, hope you slept well." In all honesty, she didn't feel right today, but she couldn't really place her finger on it and a bad night's sleep hadn't helped all that much, but she also didn't think it was all that bad.

"No but really are you alright?" She rolled her eyes and joined him back on the bed, handing him his tea. Danny's hand immediately came over and rested on her stomach. "This one's quite lively today?" Posed as a question, he was digging.

"Has been all night, kept me awake to be honest. You… don't think something could be wrong?" Clara was starting to panic now; she placed her tea down and rested her hand on top of his. Danny didn't respond immediately, she looked round at him to try and determine what he was thinking. "Talk to me? Danny?" His spare hand moved to her forehead and rested there for a second before moving to his own head and then back again. "Danny you're actually scaring me a little bit please say something." She grabbed the hand that was against her forehead and gripped it tight.

"Sorry, sorry. Clara be honest with me, how are you feeling?" She started thinking back now, there had been the odd thing during the night, and she'd just dismissed everything, why had she done that?

"I… don't know? My stomach keeps feeling a bit tight I guess? But with this one kicking all the time I just assumed… I don't know. I've got a bit of a headache but I didn't sleep well so… I shouldn't be thinking like this I should have been worrying I should have…" Danny moved the hand that had been resting on her stomach and gently stroked her cheek.

"Hey, calm down sweetheart, freaking out isn't going to help anyone. We'll just keep an eye on you okay? Have a lazy day and keep an eye, let's not panic about anything too early. If you feel anything strange tell me yes?" Clara nodded, leaning her forehead against his and trying to relax herself after the minor panic she'd worked herself in to. "Now, what do you want to do?"

"Can I persuade you to put the tree up? I know it's really early but I just really want to make everything a little Christmassy, given that Christmas might well be taken up with something a little more exciting?" Clara put a look on that she knew Danny couldn't say no to and smiled at him. "I'll keep you dosed up on tea I promise." Danny chuckled and rolled his eyes, kissing her gently.

"Clara Oswald what am I going to do with you eh? Alright then, let's go decorate. You can lie on the sofa and project manage, which I'm sure I'll regret saying…" they both grinned and climbed out of bed.

"No no no no no! It needs to be further up, like a branch or two. Otherwise it's too close to the red one. Danny!" Clara threw a spare bauble at him and he finally moved the ornament where she asked.

"You know some days I'm glad we work in different departments!" Danny threw the spare bauble back at her and she looked up at him pretending to be offended. "Hey no I didn't mean that I..." Clara started laughing, she hadn't even tried to be convincing!

"You are far too easy to wind up at the moment. Now put the star on top will you because it's almost perfect." Danny smiled and grabbed the star, reaching up to put it on. Whilst he was doing so, Clara stood herself up and waited for him to climb back down from the step. "It looks amazing Danny. Thank you." She smiled and took his hand as he stood back.

"It's going to be the perfect Christmas; it's quite nice to get started early." Clara suddenly clenched forward, still keeping grasp on Danny's hand. He leapt round in front of her and crouched down to see her face. "Clara? What's going on?"

Clara managed to place a hand over her stomach which confirmed her beliefs. It took a few moments to allow herself to recover and Danny helped her down afterwards. "Danny… contractions." She couldn't get a lot else out, that had been quite a strong one. "It's too early. Too early."

"Alright, calm down okay? Breathe gently. It could still be false labour so we won't rush in to anything." Clara shook her head, trying to compose herself.

"They've got shorter. They weren't this bad before, I assumed it might be the kicking or Braxton hicks but Danny… why is this happening? There's still 5 weeks to go… it's not time!" The contraction had settled now, but panic had taken over.

"Well someone thinks it is so we'd better get you in to the hospital yeah? I'll give them a ring do you think you can manage to grab your bag?" Clara nodded and stood up, going to the cupboard where they'd already prepared everything weeks ago. Danny had disappeared in to another room, Clara could be about 98% sure he didn't want her to hear what he was going to say on the phone, but to be honest it couldn't be much worse than what she was expecting. Once she'd found the bag and double checked everything was inside, Clara made her way to get shoes on.

Aside from the 2 contractions and turning back for her phone, the journey to the hospital wasn't too eventful. When they arrived everything was ready for her, a little side room which seemed quite cosy, at least it did until she was bombarded by midwives and a couple of doctors.  
>"Danny?!" Clara reached out for his hand through the mountain of medical staff and held it tight.<p>

"Alright sweetheart, how're you doing?" Clara looked to her other side and realised her midwife, Rose, was stood on her other side, wrapping a blood pressure cuff around her arm. "We're just doing all your basic obs okay? Then the doctor will examine you and see where we're at. Try not to worry, it's better for all of you if you keep as calm as you can alright?"

"How exactly does it help Danny?" Clara tried to ignore the cuff inflating on her arm, those things were vicious.

"He might not leave with a broken hand." Rose nodded at their hands and Clara noticed just how tight she was holding it. Mouthing sorry at Danny she released her grip slightly, still not letting go. "Alright your blood pressure is a touch high but that's probably mostly stress, you've been alright generally, but we'll keep an eye on that." Clara nodded, but she wasn't concerned about her blood pressure one bit.

"The baby though?" As she spoke, the portable ultrasound machine was wheeled in. The doctor took the place of Rose and started to do the scan. Clara couldn't help but look at the screen, even though she knew it was unlikely she'd know if there was anything wrong. Occasionally her eyes flitted over to the faces of the medical staff looking at the screen, hoping she could read something but they all had very good poker faces. After a few of minutes of silence which seemed to last a lifetime, the doctor finally looked over to her.

"Alright your baby does seem to be a little upset, but everything is still intact and I'd like to keep everything natural for the moment. We'll keep a very close eye on everything and see how we go, but all the measurements are looking good, you're a few weeks from full term but I don't anticipate any major problems alright? But if at any point something doesn't feel right, let us know." Clara nodded, turning back to Danny who had finally managed to get right by the bed now things had calmed down and pulled him closer so she could lean in to him.

"We're going to get through this Clara, both of us, together. We've always done that haven't we? Today is no different." Danny's voice was soothing. He moved her away slightly and crouched down to be at her level, looking her in the eyes. "I love you. I love you both, and I'm going to make sure I do everything I can to make this all okay. I'll keep you both safe." Clara nodded and Danny kissed her gently. Her breathing settled and she leant back, however long this was going to last she knew Danny would be there and that just settled the nerves to a manageable amount.

A few hours later and things were definitely moving along. Clara was struggling to keep her pain in check as her contractions became closer and closer together, and Danny's hand certainly was suffering.

"Just breathe honey, not long to go now." Danny was running out of things to say, but he wasn't going to give up just yet.

"You know believe it or not I am breathing!" Clara snapped back, Danny was just taking it in his stride now which was probably a good thing considering her mood was getting worse with each contraction.

"Aaaalright then let's get this party started." Clara's head shot up to the doctor, giving him a look. This guy was driving her a little bit crazy as time went by, but looks were enough in his case. "That's another way of saying you're fully dilated and we're ready to push. Rose will talk you through everything just go with her and your instincts too; you'll know when to push.

"No shit Sherlock." Clara seethed through the pain.

"Alright, on the next contraction you push okay?" Rose took her place the other side to Danny and Clara just nodded; she was running out of insults and things were getting serious now. Everything might have gone smoothly so far, but this was still happening at the wrong time, things could still go wrong, and nobody seemed to know what would happen when the baby was born. She felt one contraction die down, and it wasn't very long before the next started, and when it did, she did as asked. Everything went silent, she could hear what she was being told, but everything else fell silent.

"The head is out. You're doing really well; on the next contraction give it all you've got." She heard, she responded, but still everything felt strange. The next contraction came and she pushed. There was a feeling of relief followed by a feeling of excitement. There was a small cry from the end of the bed and Clara suddenly noticed Danny was down there. The doctor handed Danny this tiny baby, her tiny baby and his smile was something Clara hadn't seen before.

"She looks just like you Clara, she's beautiful." A little girl, she must have missed that bit. Clara smiled, she'd wanted a girl, and so had Danny which she thought was a little strange considering, but she was never going to complain. Danny had made his way around to her and went to hand her little girl over, Clara went to move herself up slightly, but as she did everything went black.

"Clara?" The voice didn't quite register straight away; there was a lot of noise. There was crying, a baby's cry. Slowly everything came back to her.

"Is she… okay… Danny… what's happened?" Everything was slowly becoming clearer as time went by and Clara noticed Danny handing the baby over to a nurse. "What's going on? Where's she going?" Danny rushed over to her, taking her hand.

"Everything's okay, settle down. They're just going to check her over; they need to do extra checks because she's early. And they need to make sure you're not going to do that again, because that was terrifying." As she looked harder she could see tear stains on his cheek, just a couple but they were there. She reached up, wiping his cheek with her thumb.

"Sorry to interrupt…" Rose had appeared, maybe she'd always been there - Clara hadn't been paying much attention. "Your blood pressure dropped quite a lot. It looks like the placenta split on delivery and that's why you passed out. Everything's looking better now though, those fluids are bringing your pressure back up and the placenta's delivered. Your baby is looking very healthy, they're just checking her over now but it won't be long. You did really well."

"Thank you. I'm really sorry if I said anything?" Clara was starting to remember exactly what had happened. Rose just shook her head, smiled and headed out of the room. Clara looked over to Danny, "that goes for you too; apparently I deal with pain by insulting people. Who knew?" Danny chuckled, kissing her softly.

"I'll let you off, you just did something amazing." As he spoke the nurse who had taken the baby returned and handed her to Clara, who was now sat up in the bed and then left, just telling them that everything was fine. "Isn't she perfect?"

Clara couldn't speak; she simply looked down at her daughter and couldn't believe her eyes. Danny's arm was round her as he perched on the edge of the bed. She took this moment in; this would never happen again – their first child, that feeling would never happen again. They were going to be a family, this was it now, and it was for real. This was the moment that would define their relationship and she knew it was just perfect.

"Ellie," Danny spoke in the silence. She looked up at him, a little confused. "Her name, after your Mum?" That was is, Clara felt the tears bubble over, but she smiled too. Danny never failed to amaze her.

"It's perfect, that's just so perfect. Danny I… how did I get so lucky? You're the man every girl dreams off, I mean other than being a teacher rather than a pop star, you've got it all going, and you chose me? Sometimes I really struggle to understand that. I'm nobody special, in fact I'm a real nightmare sometimes and for some reason you're still here. And now we have this beautiful daughter…" Danny stopped her with a quick kiss, which Clara didn't complain about.

"Clara Oswald you underestimate yourself, look at what you've just done! You're definitely never a nightmare. Sure you can be a little bit of a control freak and your mouth might be a little out of control sometimes, but you wouldn't be you without that and I love that about you. I think I'm the lucky one here, getting someone so genuinely amazing. Plus, you can never claim the not special thing and you know it impossible girl." Clara rolled her eyes.

"Did you really just use that? Really?" Danny grinned.

"Ellie, there is one thing your parents will never agree on..."

"But we both agree that you're the best thing to ever happen to us." Clara finished off, smiling at Danny. They knew this was meant to be.

**I'll add a thing:  
>Thing 3 – I never put my decorations up this early but pffft I wanted a decoration thing and baby was originally due around Christmas so that's their excuse ;) <strong>

**Let me know what you thought! See you at Christmas guys! xx**


	5. End of Term

**Hey look I wrote another chapter. I actually started this a while back but work and uni and exams and everything has got intense but I found 5 minutes to finish it today so you can have one more pre-Christmas **** Enjoy. **

It was 3am. She didn't need to look at the clock, it was definitely 3am. Clara looked over at Danny who was still asleep and gently crept out of bed and over to the crying noise that was coming from Ellie's cot. Picking her up, Clara glanced over to the clock and smiled.

"On the dot, every night. At least you're predictable I guess. Come on, let's leave Daddy to sleep." Clara whispered as Ellie's cries faded down. She made her way downstairs in to the lounge and sat down on the sofa, flicking the tree lights on to provide some light, and she'd quickly learnt that Ellie seemed to appreciate them so it became their little thing. Once she was settled, Clara started to feed Ellie as she wanted. The night feeds were the thing everyone had told her would be the worst, but if she was honest Clara quite enjoyed this time.

"This is our little time isn't it? Everyone is in bed, everything so quiet..." No response of course, but Clara liked to think Ellie enjoyed it too. Well, ignoring the fact she was getting fed so was more than happy anyway.

Danny had yet to wait up for a night feed, but Clara didn't begrudge him that, especially as he was back at work now too. He knew they happened, but that was about it. Danny's time with Ellie was just after he got back from school. She would wake up from her nap around 4 and Danny would get in not long after, then Clara would cook dinner whilst Ellie lay on Danny's chest, and it was a sight she adored to see.

Speaking of which, Ellie had finally finished.

"You've got your Daddy's appetite haven't you eh? Done now?" Clara organised herself before sitting back again. "Back to sleep now shall we?" She stood up and walked over to the Christmas tree, leaning against the wall and ever so slightly rocking Ellie. "I don't know what we'll do when Christmas is over, but this seems to work for now..." She had managed to flick the light setting on so they were fading in and out now, it had become a skill to manage the switch without the use of her hands, but thankfully it was in the floor anyway. Ellie had started to notice the movement if the light now and it was fascinating to watch. Clara watched as Ellie's eyes began to close slowly and she dropped off to sleep. "My little angel..."

Before she knew it 7am had come around once more. She could hear the shower running when she woke so Clara decided tea was in order. Ellie was awake too and gurgling happily to herself in her cot, this was a recent but welcome development. Clara smiled and picked her up, taking her downstairs to make the tea. When they got down she placed Ellie on the play mat and flicked the kettle on, watching her through the doorway whilst trying to organise breakfast. It was the last morning before term broke and the books all over the table said a lot about the chaos that meant for Danny, for once she was sort of pleased not to be working today, Ellie aside of course.

"Good morning beautiful…" Danny appeared in her eye line. Clara smiled and handed him tea. "What would I ever do without you?"

"Drink bad tea? And probably not be organised for today too." She'd started to organise his books and put them into his bag. "Honestly how do you keep track of your marking?"

"It's organised chaos…"

"There is no organised about this mess." Ellie gurgled fairly loudly from the floor at this point. "See, your daughter agrees with me!"

"Actually, I think she's excited about the tree lights, did you change the setting?" Clara finished doing the bag up and turned around.

"Oh yeah, my bad, forgot to change it back." Danny had picked up Ellie whilst she was talking. He was jigging her gently and pointing out the lights to her. Clara leant against the door frame, smiling at what she could see right now. Every time Danny held Ellie it occurred to her just how small Ellie was, how fragile she was, and yet the way he handled her was so loving, so caring, so… perfect. "Once upon a time," Clara began, walking over to them, "your Daddy was introduced to me as a lady-killer. And you know what? I don't think that description is far wrong sometimes." Danny rolled his eyes at her and gently passed Ellie over.

"I'll get you later for that one." He kissed Ellie's head softly. "But I have to go." He kissed Clara carefully and picked up his bag. "Thank you for sorting this, see you later!"

"Sooner than you think." Clara smiled, heading back upstairs.

Walking back into school was a little strange; she hadn't expected to be leaving when she did so everything was a little up in the air after Ellie was born. Clara had made sure to arrive during lessons to avoid as many pupils as possible on arrival; it was a little hard to be discreet with a pram. She made it to the staffroom without being spotted, which was a miracle in itself, but unfortunately the same couldn't be said for what happened when she went inside.

"Clara! I didn't know you were coming in today, Danny never said." Adrian appeared from nowhere. "She's adorable!" He looked over into the pram.

"It'd be funny if he had, he doesn't actually know. And she's asleep so be careful please." Adrian stood back, apologising. "Sorry, that wasn't meant to come out quite so harsh. Little tired. How're things going? I sort of left you in the lurch…"

"Well luckily for us your cover was able to start early and your incredibly detailed lesson plans meant they could continue where you left off. The pupils are doing fine."

The bell rang just as Adrian finished speaking, and sadly Ellie wasn't a fan. Clara picked her up to comfort her just as the door opened and various members of staff started to walk in. Unfortunately, the open door made her visible to pupils too.

"Miss!" Of all the pupils, of any of them that had to be outside at that exact moment… "Oh my gosh miss you really have to come back after Christmas. Mr Graham is so dull and…"

"Courtney, what are you… Miss Oswald?" Danny had arrived, this had seemed like a good idea when it started, but by this point she was surrounded by teachers and being hounded by Courtney Woods. Clara handed Ellie, who was still not happy, to Danny and went over to the door.

"As lovely as it is to see you wishing me back, you're going to have to wait a few months. Now off you pop." Shutting the door, Clara turned around and managed to get through the growing crowd to Danny. "Sorry, hi. Can we just clear the crowd? She's not handling it well." Danny got straight to it and Clara finally managed to settle Ellie. After a few moments Clara finally allowed her to be held by Alex (who, being one of their friends, had already been round and met Ellie).

"You alright?" Danny put an arm round her; they were both watching Alex and Ellie, and the slightly smaller crowd that were now gathered.

"Me? I'm fine, she just... "Danny looked down at her, giving her a knowing look. "You know me too well. I'm alright now, honest. Alex is really good with her. How was your morning?"

"There's only so many times you can watch Frozen and still keep sane. I think I passed that limit today, so when I start singing Let It Go in my sleep please feel free to push me out of bed." Clara chuckled. "Seriously though, every class…"

"You poor thing. Tell you what, once Ellie's settled tonight I'll let you pick what we watch because I'm nice like that."

"How lucky am I?" Danny grinned, kissing her gently.

"Oh more than you could ever know…" She chuckled, leaning in to him.

Settled on the sofa once Ellie was asleep, Danny put his arm around Clara and looked through the TV channels. Clara grimaced as he paused on the horror movie channel.

"Hey, you said anything…" Danny grinned; he knew her feelings on horror films.

"Except anything that's going to leave me awake all night." Clara grinned as he mock sighed and changed over. "Thank you." She kissed his cheek quickly and settled down on his shoulder at which point he kissed her head in return.

"You know something Clara?" He settled on The Polar Express, which made Clara smiled somewhat.

"I know many things, which one are you referring to exactly?" Danny rolled his eyes; she didn't even need to see his face to know that.

"I'm referring to just how utterly perfect this Christmas is going to be. I always had this dream picture in my head where I'd have the most wonderful family and a little house decorated beautifully… who knew it would be even better than how I imagined it? To be honest I didn't even believe it would ever actually happen." Clara tried to resist the urge to let a tear escape.

"Right yes that thing… see I always thought I'd had the perfect Christmas. Mum, Dad and me, I always thought that was it after Mum died. But I get the feeling you might be right; this could be the best Christmas yet. Just one thing missing…" She knelt up, facing him, smiling and kissing him.

"Hey you're not meant to be…" Clara shook her head, chuckling and kissing him again. "Right… got you." The night ahead was going to be beautiful.

**Hope you enjoy. Next will be posted either Christmas eve or Christmas morning **


	6. Mistletoe and Wine

**Merry Christmas my wonderful friends (shhh I know it's Christmas Eve but I wanted to post this now!) **** Here is your Christmas chapter/shot/whatever you want to call it. **

**And in response to the guest review – you'll have to read to find out what happens next! After this chapter anything could happen, this chapter was the original aim for this set of one-shots and the reason it was written. As for what happens next, I don't know… we'll have to see.**

_He didn't know what to expect when he knocked on the door, it had been a long time for both of them, anything could have happened. He'd already had a bit of trouble trying to find out where she was living now, and then he'd spent a good couple of hours trying to decide whether to land in or out of the house, after all the incident in her old flat was a little awkward. It took a long time for someone to come to the door, although there were all sorts of noises coming from inside the house. When the door finally opened, it was definitely not what he was expecting. _

"_Hello…" Clara looked stunned to see him there, but he was even more stunned to see what she was holding. She quickly caught on to his stare. "Right, yeah, things have changed a little around here…." They were both still stood there in quiet disbelief, only moving when Danny appeared behind Clara. _

"_Who is it? Oh, long time no see! Come on in Doctor?" This time both Clara and him were staring at Danny, a little confused as to his oh so welcoming attitude. None the less, Clara moved out the way and the Doctor entered the house._

_The overall silence was beginning to get a little awkward; they all knew someone was going to have to speak first.  
>"So, you… have mini you now then?" The Doctor spoke, vaguely pointing in Ellie's direction. "What else did I miss? Why is PE covered in flour?" Clara couldn't help but grin a little at that, his confusion was evident that was for sure. <em>

"_Like I said, a lot has changed. This is Ellie…" Clara took a step forward so he could see Ellie properly, and smiled a little when Ellie reached out – it was completely coincidental of course, but incredibly cute. "She hasn't started screaming, that's a good sign. 5 weeks in the world and she's certainly making it known who she likes and who she doesn't like." _

"_Strong-willed then? I have no where she got that from." Danny chuckled in agreement. "I still don't understand why PE…" Clara gave him a little glare, "…Danny is covered in flour?" _

"_Now that's a slightly longer story…"_

"Merry Christmas to you too…" Clara woke to a crying child and sighed, it had been the first bad night she'd had with her in a while, but it was Christmas and she wasn't going to let tiredness get in the way of that. Pushing the covers off, Clara stood up and went over to the cot, picking her up carefully. "Someone's trying to take advantage of mummy's good mood aren't they eh? Now, let's get you sorted and then we'll find the presents from Santa!"

Of course Ellie was clueless, but Clara didn't really care – it was her first Christmas and that was special. They'd had to do quite a bit of last minute shopping, although the amount of presents she'd had from everyone, most of what was under the tree was for her which was the way it should be.

Once she'd organised Ellie, Clara went back up to find Danny sat up in bed on his phone, but he smiled and looked up when she walked back in.

"Good morning my beautiful girls," Danny leant over and took Ellie so Clara could get back in to bed a little easier, "and Merry Christmas sweetheart." He kissed Ellie's head.

"Don't I get one of those?" Clara grinned and chuckled gently as he pulled some mistletoe from under his pillow, holding it above them and kissing her, "much better." She stayed leant over, letting her head rest on his shoulder. "I could quite happily stay like this all day you know?"

"Except your Dad is going to be here in 3 and a half hours and we still have baking to do, so we actually can't stay here too long at all." She'd actually almost forgotten about that, but reality was still upon them. "I do want to give you something first though?"

"I thought we were doing presents later...?" Danny nodded, handing Ellie to her and climbing out of bed. He opened the door to his side of the wardrobe and leant in, picking something out from the back. "Danny what's going on?" Ellie made a small squeal, her timing was always so appropriate. Clara looked down to make sure she was okay, gently stroking Ellie's cheek with her thumb. When she looked back up, Danny had got back in the bed beside her and was holding out a present.

"Just one, I want you to have this before your Dad arrives… here, let me take Ellie back for a moment." They managed to swap after a moment of confusion; the struggles of having a baby were so real. Clara slowly unwrapped the present, what seemed to be a relatively big box actually held another much smaller one, again wrapped. She unwrapped it and found a ring box.

"You know we've already done this bit right? There's not a time limit on these things." Danny rolled his eyes at her comments, smiling none the less.

"I'm fully aware. This is something different, honestly just open it." So she did, and inside was the most gorgeous eternity ring. "I know we're not actually married yet but we've already broken many a tradition in our time. We have a beautiful daughter and now more than ever I know we will have the most amazing life together. I love you, and this is just a little something to symbolise that… I hope you like it."

Clara was stunned, and Danny's speech just made her even more emotional. When she finally managed to look up from the ring she kissed Danny gently and he wiped a tear away that had managed to escape.  
>"I love it; I really… really love it. Sometimes I wonder how I deserve you." Danny took the ring from the box and placed it gently on her finger.<p>

"Ditto, but now we're stuck with each other." He grinned, kissing her again quickly before handing Ellie back and getting up. "I'll go get myself sorted, we need to start baking." Clara grinned as he walked off to the bathroom, she looked down at Ellie.

"I'm afraid it will be a little pass the parcel like today sweetheart, but feel free to scream at Linda again because that was highly entertaining." Ellie blinked up at her, gurgled and then scrunched herself up, shutting her eyes. "Or you can sleep, that's fine too. The exciting stuff will happen later anyway…"

"Clara we're never going to get the dinner in on time unless we get on with this!" Danny said, although Clara could see him attempting not to smile. They'd made it down to the kitchen and were doing their best to put a cake together, at least Danny was. Clara was basically doing her best to disrupt things in an attempt to make him smile; it turns out he gets quite strict when it comes to cooking to time limits. Eventually however, everything did get mixed together and the cake went in to the oven.

"See, now we have to wait like an hour so will you cheer up please?" Clara stood behind him, waiting until he turned around to puff flour at him, except it may have been a little more than originally planned. "Oops…!" Once he'd recovered from the shock of a sudden burst of flour, Danny gave a little smirk and grabbed her round the waist, picking her up. Clara squealed at the shock of being picked up and wriggled to try and get down. "No no no stop! Danny!" He managed to carry her all the way through to the living room where they both collapsed down on the sofa laughing.

"You're in big trouble missy." Danny poked her nose, grinning.

"I think it looks festive! Besides, that's your fault for getting dressed before baking! Speaking of which, I need to go and change." Clara grinned, jumping up quickly and running upstairs.

"I'll get you later!" Came the call from behind her.

It didn't take her all that long to get dressed in the end, but then skinny jeans and a Christmas jumper didn't take too much effort. Once she was ready there was a small noise came from the cot so Clara made her way over and picked her up. "Shall we take you downstairs then? Daddy's in a bit of a mess!" She made her way downstairs, but didn't quite make it in to the living room as the door knocked. It was too early to be her family so she was a little confused.

"_Right, so… right." The Doctor looked even more confused than when they started really. _

"_You can stay, if you like, if that's okay with Danny… yeah, if you want?" Clara was a little nervous asking that._

"_I don't know how well that would go down after last year if your family are coming again… I'd probably better go." She'd figured as much, it was an awkward situation and having to explain why he looked different would be far too complex. _

"_Well at least stay for a cup of tea or something? They're not due to arrive for another hour." He looked a little happier at that prospect. "Danny?" _

"_I'll put the kettle on then! You go sit down in the lounge." Clara smiled and showed the Doctor through. They sat down on the sofa and Ellie started gurgling again._

"_Do you want to hold her? I think she's quite keen to meet you." Clara looked over to him and he seemed to agree, although looking slightly reluctant. She carefully handed Ellie over to him, making sure he was supporting her head. They both sat in silence again for about 30 seconds, the Doctor simply looking down at Ellie who seemed quite happy to be there. Eventually Clara decided to break the silence. "Where have you been?" _

"_Just, travelling. You needed space, you said as much." Clara nodded, trying to work out how to say this._

"_Yes but it's been a year. I had no idea if you were coming back, I just assumed you weren't I guess over time… we moved on; both literally and metaphorically. I thought you were maybe looking for Gallifrey? No luck?" Clara tried to make out his expression, but he seemed to ignore her question and instead started speaking to Ellie. _

"_I'll tell you something little one, you're very lucky to have such wonderful parents. Especially your Mum, she'll be great." Ellie gurgled again; she really seemed to like him which was almost a relief to her. "I know she might complain occasionally but I'm sure she loves you a lot." _

"_Um, Doctor?" _

"_I speak baby." _

"_Right, yes, of course." Clara knew she probably should have figured that out, but it was nice to be certain. Danny came in just after this carrying a teapot and some mugs. "How's the cake doing?" _

"_Not bad, should be done on time. I've got everything out ready to start on lunch so we're on track. Everything okay in here? Ellie seems to be enjoying herself there; you must be doing something right." _

_They had tea over varying conversation. Clara managed to cover the key points of what the Doctor had missed and he managed to keep the conversation firmly away from what he'd been up to. Eventually though, it was time for him to go. _

"_Come back sooner this time?" Clara said at the door, she'd left Danny in the kitchen with Ellie. _

"_Of course, isn't there a wedding to come to?" She smiled, nodding. _

"_You'd better be there or I'll come and hunt you down."_

"_That's a threat I know will be carried out. I'll be there, don't you worry." He started to make his way down the path. _

"_Oh and Doctor?" She called after him, the Doctor turned around. "Merry Christmas." She tossed a wrapped present over to him, "I had a feeling you might turn up so I got prepared." _

"_Merry Christmas Clara, thank you."_

When the day finally drew to a close, Clara found herself getting round to doing the washing up. Danny had gone up to check on Ellie now the family had left so she started on the clearing up.

"We can always leave this lot till tomorrow you know?" Clara jumped slightly, she hadn't expected Danny back down so quickly.

"Might as well start, you know we won't want to get up tomorrow." Clara grinned and threw a tea towel at him. "Thank you for today, making it so perfect… it really was the best Christmas I've had for a good 10 years." Instead of using the tea towel as intended, Danny swung it around Clara and pulled her over, she rolled her eyes but didn't argue, especially when he proceeded to pull her close and kiss her tenderly. "Mmmm okay you win you win. Wine, sofa, telly?"

They sat down together, Clara leaning against him but upright enough to be able to sip at her wine with some Christmas panel show running on the TV. Danny played with her hair mindlessly as they both vaguely watched it. In the end she found her eyes drifting over towards the pile of toys and clothes that had appeared in the corner of the living room.  
>"We need to sort through that lot too… I can't believe so many people have got her things, she's very lucky."<p>

"The thank you cards will take forever!" Danny chuckled gently. "She's a very lucky girl, but she deserves it all - just like her mum." Clara looked up to him now, smiling.

"You know you become even soppier under the influence of alcohol. Not that I'm complaining of course, just stating a fact." Danny just smiled in reply. "You know, people judge you too soon. Everyone does it don't they? The soldier label it's like it suddenly makes you this big hard guy not to be touched, but you're not. You're just a guy, a really amazing, gorgeous, wonderful guy who would do most things for anyone and yet somehow I got lucky enough to be the one you'd do anything for. You're everything people seem to expect you not to be, and yet you're still the bravest man I've ever met." There was a silence after that, Clara couldn't decide if she'd upset him or not. In the end he didn't reply to the immediate question.

"Was it weird? Seeing the Doctor today I mean?" The elephant in the room. Despite how friendly Danny had been to him, Clara couldn't help but think it would bother him. They may not have let it ruin Christmas, but the conversation had to happen sometime.

"Yes, of course. I didn't think he was coming back… it was nice, like seeing any friend you haven't seen for a while. I won't lie; there was a small part of me that for a split second really wanted to fly away again and see the stars, but then I looked at Ellie, and you appeared, and I knew right then I don' t need to run away anymore." Another silent pause fell, shorter this time. "A wise man once told me there are plenty of wonders to be found without going in to space, and I think it's time to listen to him." Now Danny smiled and they kissed once more. Clara settled back down and relaxed in to him again, they weren't moving for a while.

"You should tell that man how great he is." Danny added and they both chuckled, the day ending just as perfect as it began.


	7. Happy New Year

**I've written this all today on my tablet so it may not be the greatest formatting and there may be the odd spelling mistake, but Happy New Year everybody!**

Clara found herself incredibly paranoid from the moment they left the house. It was the first time they had both left Ellie with someone else, even if that someone was her Dad. Danny had obviously spotted her looking back as they walked off down the road.

"Clara, she'll be fine! Your dad's really good with her and she'll be asleep soon anyway." He used his free hand to turn her head towards him, smiling as he did. "Relax, we're enjoying ourselves tonight okay?"

Clara nodded, she knew he was right but that didn't stop her from worrying about everything and anything. "What if she won't go to sleep though? She could tell Linda was there and they definitely do not get on, what if Ellie won't sleep because of that? And she doesn't like the bottles either..." Danny stopped her in her tracks by grabbing both her hands and stopping on the path. "What?" There was a silence as Danny just grinned and Clara stared at him somewhat confused.

"Maybe," he broke the silence after a little while, "maybe the change in routine will stop her becoming a control freak like her mother." Danny continued smiling as Clara tried to hit his side but Danny dodged it easily, he'd got used to this clearly. She started to grin slightly as she began to chase Danny down the road, remarkably successfully considering the shoes being worn (although the odd alien planet in heels had given her some practice). Eventually Danny stopped and managed to grab her round the waist as she slowed down behind him and spun her gently round.

"There's that smile I love. Much better." He kissed her gently and lowered her back to the floor. "And for the record, I wouldn't have you any other way."

"Mmm don't think I won't still hold this against you when I need to..." Clara chuckled and took his hand again, starting to walk towards their destination again. "But thank you for knowing me so well, it is nice to spend time alone really, we don't get a lot of it nowadays." Danny squeezed her hand in agreement as they turned the corner on to the road where the pub was. Clara stopped just outside the door and kissed him deeply.

"What was that for sweetheart?" He looked fairly confused after that, not that he was complaining of course.

"Does there need to be a reason?" Clara moved around to the other side, causing Danny to have to spin around. He seemed to think for a second and then returned the kiss.

"Oh get a room you two!" They quickly split, looking round and blushing slightly. Aidan was stood there looking completely undeterred by the scene. "We going in?" He went between them and Clara nodded to say they'd follow.

"Staff new year, whose silly idea was that?" Clara said, smiling at Danny and taking his hand as they walked in.

It was getting towards midnight when her phone rang and Clara excused herself from the table for a minute. It was fair to say they'd all had a decent amount of drink by now, though Clara had made sure not to go too far.

"Hello?" She hadn't actually checked the caller ID before answering.

"Clara? It's Linda." If it wasn't for the thought this could be about Ellie she'd have hung up there and then. "It's nothing to worry about, just that your Dad isn't feeling too great so he's had to go home and Ellie won't settle..." Big surprise there, Clara was not happy at this situation.

"Linda, in the nicest possible way, Ellie is very picky about who goes near her and I'm afraid you don't feature highly on her list. We'll be back soon I promise and until then feel free to use the dummy and try putting that CD by her cot on. Sorry, but babysitting includes crying. See you later." She hung up and stared at her phone for a moment before shrugging and going back in.

"Is everything alright?" Danny asked her as she sat back down.

"Fine yes, Dad's gone home because he's not feeling great and Linda is stuck with a very disgruntled child. You're right though, we can't go running." She settled back, picking up her drink that had been replenished since she left.

"So slightly tipsy Clara is wild then!" Polly, one of the other maths teacher perked up from the other side of Danny. They weren't the best of friends, but Danny got on well with her so she put up with it. Clara gave a small smile over at her and turned the other way to talk to Aidan, which realistically provided less stressful conversation.

After 20 minutes of being filled in on every plan for the department before she was going to return, Clara was a little relieved when everyone started the countdown to midnight.

60...59...58...

It had been one hell of a year that was for sure. Of course it had technically lasted a little more than a year, but that was a very complicated matter. She couldn't help but look back at her travels with the doctor fondly and part of her did miss that. They went to amazing places and saw amazing things, they even broke into a bank for goodness sake!

But that time was filled with regrets too.

47...46...45...

Danny kept looking at her as they all counted down. He was smiling, albeit he was slightly drunk by now, but she recognised that smile. Her favourite smile, the first one he ever have her, the smile she fell in love with on sight, but sometimes that made her more sad than anything. She knew their first few months had been far from ideal, she'd let him down on multiple occasions during that time and she'd lied plenty of times.

Despite that, he was still here, smiling at her like the day they first met. Things were very much different too now she was more settled and they had Ellie. She was happier, realistically they both were.

It turns out real life was actually pretty good.

34...33...32...

Ellie. She was clearly the biggest change in her life. Clara had done the child minder thing before, but never had someone relied on her so heavily until Ellie came along. Despite what everyone said, she didn't mind the 3am feeds and early starts - they had their routine and it worked. Admittedly Clara knew she might think differently when she went back to work, but secretly there was a hope things might have changed by then.

Seeing Danny with Ellie had to be her favourite sight of the year. Ellie loved her Daddy and she always seemed to know when he got home and was quite happy to spend the evening with him while Clara got dinner sorted and managed to get things done that aren't very easy with a demanding 7 week old.

However Clara looked at it, she'd made everyone happier.

20...19...18...

The year to come was always going to be interesting, however she looked at it. A wedding was going to be happening and it was actually going to be hers! The date had been set, but not a lot else had been done and that was a somewhat terrifying thought.

She would be returning to work at some point too, and the jury was still out on how much she was looking forward to that. On the one hand she very much missed her pupils and the school day, but the idea of leaving Ellie for so long each day was somewhat terrifying and didn't really bare thinking about right now. A whole new routine would be needed!

3...2...1...

There weren't too many couples to be had in the school, but those who were as such (which totalled 3 pairs) automatically turned to each other, sharing a relatively quick kiss on zero before everyone wished each other a happy new year. The jollity looked all set to continue but as soon as new year hit Clara could feel herself being very tired - she had after all been awake since 7 with minimal sleep. Danny was still chatting away to someone so she lay her head down on his head, partly to make a point but she wasn't going to rush him. Danny clearly noticed fairly quickly and put a hand around, playing with the ends of her hair while he drew his conversation to a close.

"Think I need to get someone home..." Danny pushed her up gently, picking up her coat for Clara to put on. They both said respective goodbyes before heading out, arms around each other and walking off down the road.

"That was a good night, thank you for persuading me to go, it was nice to be sociable minus baby." Clara smiled, moving a little closer to him as the cold wind started to hit.

"And it was a lovely start to the new year. I've got pretty high hopes for this one you know, I think it's going to be a good one..." Danny smiled, kissing the top of her head as they walked.

"I think you might be right some how, but first we have to deal with the harsh reality of a grumpy sod and our daughter." Clara grinned, chuckling slightly as they opened the door to find Linda pacing the living room with Ellie who was not sounding entirely happy. Immediately she removed Ellie from her, sitting down on the sofa and laying her gently on her chest which caused a ceasing in the crying almost straight away. She wasn't expecting Linda to just storm out, but she did.

"Was it something we said?" Danny shut the for after her, looking a little bemused.

"Something I said I think, I wasn't entirely polite on the phone... but whatever, I don't really care. At least Ellie is calm now." Danny nodded, knowing it probably wasn't worth asking anything further. He sat down beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders and sitting close. Clara rested her head back down on his shoulder, looking at Ellie as she fell asleep against her. No words were spoken for a good while after that, it was a peaceful and perfect moment.

"Happy new year beautiful, I can't wait to spend it with you."


	8. Not a Perfect Day

**I was going for drama this chapter… this is what you got. **

"…and you'll need to make sure you've got an extra blanket with you sometimes she gets a little cold and…" Clara was interrupted by Danny placing a hand on her shoulder and looking her in the eyes, something he'd started doing to calm her down, and it was very attractive – which he probably knew.

"Clara, I think your Dad can manage to take his own granddaughter out for the afternoon. He did a pretty good job with his daughter." She couldn't argue with that, she couldn't often argue with Danny when he was stood where he was now. Nodding, she slipped out from his grip, smiling gently and slightly teasingly at him before going over to her Dad who was tucking Ellie in to her pram. It was always a beautiful sight to see them together, Ellie absolutely adored her granddad and he certainly returned the feeling, which explained everything she saw in front of her right now. Clara leant against the doorway to watch, not wanting to interrupt just yet.

"We'll be fine Clara, I assure you." She smiled; of course he would know she was there.

"I know, I know you will. Are you… going back to yours after the pool or…?" She didn't want to ask, but she was always worried.

"Linda won't be there Clara, relax. She's gone to meet some friends." He knew, of course he knew. It was bluntly obvious to everyone especially recently, Clara was struggling more and more to hold her tongue when it came to Linda.

"She has friends?" That wasn't meant to come out, but it was too late now. Dave sighed, looking away from Clara and down to Ellie. "I'm sorry… sorry. That was… unfair." It was, but she didn't really feel all that sorry, and she suspected he knew that too.

"I wish I understood what was going on with you two, I just don't get it…" Clara shook her head, the one thing he didn't know, almost like he didn't want to see it. Sometimes this grated on her, but she couldn't put her Dad in a position where he would have to choose between Linda and her, so that was never a conversation she started.

"Forget it, honestly. I shouldn't have said anything. Go on, go enjoy yourself. I'll see you later." She smiled, kissing her father on the cheek and opening the front door. Once he'd left, she shut the door and leant back against it, shaking off that conversation and going back through to the living room where Danny was sat patiently, playing with something on his phone. Clara sat down beside him, curling her feet up on the sofa and leaning her head on his shoulder and watching what he was doing. "You're doing it all wrong you know, you should start at the bottom then you have more chance of cascade moves to crush the candy." Danny grinned, exiting the game and putting his phone down.

"Someone's had far too much time on her hands." He turned around, kissing her softly. "So, first time alone in a long time… what shall we do?" They both grinned, kissing again. They both knew the answer to that question.

It had started to rain outside, Clara found herself watching the rain crawling down the window as she played with Danny's fingers. It had been far too long since they'd been able to spend time together like this and she'd forgotten just how precious it was. Danny was stroking her hair gently, occasionally kissing her head. There was no need for words, not just yet, the silence was everything they needed, and it said everything that was needed. It must have been at least an hour before Danny spoke.

"You know we never actually had lunch…" Clara chuckled; of course food was the silence breaker. She had to admit though, now he said it she was quite hungry.

"Mmmmm maybe we should move downstairs? I can whip something up?" Danny shook his head though.

"I have an idea. I'll need to pop out though. I'll go now and you can take your time okay?" He kissed her gently, standing up. Reluctantly she let go of his hands, smiling as he headed to the bathroom and returning to look out the window. The rain had stopped now, but there were still a few drops running down the window, they were slightly hypnotising and before she knew it Danny was back and dressed. "I'll be no more than half an hour. Promise."

"You expect me to be up and ready in half an hour?" Clara grinned, kneeling up on the bed to kiss him.

"Nobody said you had to get ready for anything. Just be comfortable." She gave him a knowing look, grinning and keeping hold of his fingers until he got too far away. Danny called out to say goodbye and once the door had closed Clara got herself up. She grabbed her dressing gown, wrapping it around her and heading downstairs to put the kettle on, smiling all the way. By habit she went to check the baby monitor before realising it was essentially pointless and switched it off, just as the doorbell went. Quickly realising she was in her dressing gown at 2 in the afternoon Clara looked around for anything she could possibly put on before answering the door but for once there was nothing lying around, why did she have to be so tidy?! As the doorbell went again, she gave in and hoped it wasn't going to be too awkward a conversation and went to the door.

"Little underdressed aren't you?" It was tempting to scowl, maybe even just slam the door shut, but for some strange reason Clara decided to move out the way and allow Linda in.

"You know Dad left here ages ago right?" Linda shut the door as Clara spoke; she decided not to respond to her comment.

"I know. I came to talk to you; we have got to sort this out. You're putting your poor father through…"

Stop. Right. There.

"ME?! I am not the cause of all this. Everything was absolutely fine before you came along and took over his life!" Clara could feel herself tipping over the edge; there was no way she was going to back down on this one.

"Says the girl who kissed her father goodbye the moment a guy came along! Do you know what that did to him?!" Clara turned away for a moment, she'd already had this conversation with her father and that had involved much less shouting and they'd completely resolved the matter. And Linda knew that.

"What exactly IS the point of this conversation?! You wanted to sort things out?! All you've done is screwed everything up, even Ellie knows it and she's only 4 months old! You're nothing more than an interfering idiot who doesn't understand _anything _we've been through! You tried too hard to be my mother and when that didn't work you've done _everything _in your power to try and ruin our relationship!" Clara wasn't prepared for what came next. Linda reacted almost instantly, grabbing her arm and pushing her against the wall. She'd never seen her angry before, not really. "Let go! Linda!" She didn't move though, the look in her eyes was slightly terrifying and Clara immediately regretted ever starting this.

"I have never tried to ruin anything for you. EVER! All I wanted was to help you and all you did was throw it back in my face! As for Ellie she just has a bad influence!" Forget the regret, this was the turning point. Clara pulled at her arm and managed to flip them round so Linda was against the wall.

"You can insult anything you like about me, anything, but NEVER TOUCH MY DAUGHTER!" The look Linda gave her was fierce. She pushed Clara away, harder than she expected. Clara tried to catch herself but there was nothing available and before she knew it, everything was black.

He knew something was wrong as soon as he saw the ambulance. It was parked just outside their house, and that was the first clue. But there wasn't anywhere else on the street to park; maybe it was just there for ease.

Then there was the door, it was open. Just a crack, but Clara would never leave the door open. There was no reason for anyone to be here either; he'd only been gone half an hour. Dave wasn't due back until much later, unless something had happened to Ellie, but then Clara would have phoned.

As he went in the door there were voices, strange voices. They were talking garbage, he didn't understand a word, but there was one voice he did recognise.

"She hit her head… yes… the fireplace… I think…" Why on earth was Linda here?! Danny ran in to the room and froze. "Danny… I…"

"What happened?!" Clara was all strapped up on a board. One of the paramedics came over and put an arm on his shoulder, he automatically shrugged it off but apologised quickly, she was only trying to help.

"Her mother…"

"STEP-mother. If you can even call her that right now." Danny glared at Linda before looking back and waiting for the paramedic to continue.

"Sorry, she phoned us after Miss Oswald fell backwards. As she's unconscious and can't report pain we're taking every possible precaution to make sure we don't cause any further damage. You're the fiancé?" Danny nodded, watching as the second paramedic was doing checks on Clara. He didn't for a second believe that she simply fell; there was nothing to fall over. "We're going to take her in to the hospital now. You can come with us if you like?" He nodded again, unable to take his eyes off her now. She looked almost peaceful, but peaceful and covered in blood. "It probably looks worse than it is - head wounds bleed a lot. But the quicker we get to the hospital the better alright?" More nodding, he couldn't speak now. He moved with the paramedic over to Clara's side, taking her hand.

"You're going to be alright sweetheart, I promise. Just be strong…" At that moment the paramedics started to head out of the house, he followed but paused when he reached Linda. "As soon as she wakes up I'll get the truth. See what Dave thinks when I tell him you tried to kill his daughter." She started to shake her head and opened her mouth but Danny was having nothing of it. He grabbed her arm and practically threw her out of the door. "You'd better pray she's alright." He finished with, closing the door and running over to the ambulance.

It seemed like hours he'd been stood outside that room, but his watch said 34 minutes. Nobody had come out yet, not since they came back from the scan. Was no news good news? Or was something happening in there they didn't want him to know about? Either way he was getting very impatient, pacing the corridor. They'd tried to offer him tea and sit him in some cosy little room on his own but that wasn't right, he needed to be as close as possible. 35 minutes now.

"Danny?" He turned around quickly to see Dave stood there with Ellie. He hadn't called him yet, but obviously Linda had been straight on it. Speaking of which, she followed him around the corner. Danny stared at her for a moment before focussing on Dave and Ellie. "She's getting a bit grizzly, has been for the last hour or so." He took Ellie from him, gently swaying her in the way she liked.

"She knows something's wrong. When Clara had that migraine the other week Ellie spent the whole day grumpy, she's very tuned in." Danny smiled a little, but quickly realised he was crying too. "Has… has Linda filled you in…?"

"Yeah. What's happening now?" Dave looked anxious, now definitely wasn't the time to bring Linda up.

"I don't really know, nobody's said anything since she had the CT scan. It's been…" he looked at his watch again over Ellie, "41 minutes now…." He turned away from Dave, unable to stop more tears falling. A hand was placed on his shoulder soon after.

"You don't have to play the brave soldier; it's natural to be worried. She's a strong girl, always has been, a little knock on the head won't stop her you know that." Danny could hear the nerves in his voice, but he was right none the less. Turning back, he nodded a thank you and went over to sit down for Ellie's sake more than his. Dave joined him, but Linda stayed a safe distance which was probably a wise move on her part.

The waiting was horrible; nobody came out of the room for another half an hour and when they did, it was almost impossible to read the nurse's expression. Danny stood up immediately, handing Ellie over to Dave and rushing over. Before he could say anything the nurse was ready to speak.

"She's stable, not awake yet but we expect she will wake up soon. Her scan was clear, she gave us a bit of a scare when we got back and it took some time to stabilise her, but they're sure there won't be any lasting effects. You can go in now, they're just finishing off." He almost ran in straight away, but things needed sorting first.

"Thank you, so much." Danny thanked her and turned around to find Dave about to hand Ellie over to Linda. "No!" He realised how that sounded almost straight away, but there was no way he was allowing his daughter in that woman's arms. "Just… Ellie's settled and we shouldn't crowd Clara… I'll go in for now, you wait with her. Please." Dave nodded, obviously shocked by his response but not questioning it. Once he was sure Ellie was safe, Danny made his way in to the room they'd been treating Clara in.

The doctors had just finished and greeted him as he went in, which he responded to accordingly before sitting on the stool that the nurse had put there for him. They'd cleaned Clara up now and she looked so much paler, but still peaceful. He took her hand, squeezing it gently; she didn't squeeze back. He lifted her hand gently and kissed it; she didn't smile in response. It didn't feel right, any of this. Danny felt conflicted, he didn't know what to do about any of this, he didn't really know what had happened but it seemed pretty clear.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there, I'm sorry I let this happen… we'll sort this, she won't come near you again I promise you that…" There was nobody left in the room now, he didn't know if Clara could hear or not, but he had to speak to her. "I love you, I'm sorry I let you down…" He sighed, looking at their hands joined together.

"No." Danny wasn't sure he'd heard anything until he saw Clara's hand start to wrap around his. "You didn't let me down. And I didn't help myself..."

"Clara she attacked you!" His spare hand moved to stroke her hair gently as he looked up to her now he was sure she was awake.

"Yes, and then I wound her up further. She pushed me, but she didn't mean for this. She might be an insufferable bitch, but she's no murderer. Wouldn't have the guts." They both chuckled gently, although Clara looked pained as she did so they quickly stopped. "Please, don't tell Dad…" Danny shook his head at that, but as he did they were both interrupted.

"Linda did this?" Danny looked up, immediately looking for Ellie. "She's with the nurse being fed. Linda went to find coffee. Did she really do this?" He walked over and stood on the other side of the bed looking incredibly concerned and slightly guilty.

"She turned up… said she wanted to get this sorted. But she started saying it was all my fault, we both got angry. She grabbed my arm, things got a little tense and then she basically said I was a bad mother and I just flipped, she pushed me away and well, now I'm here." Clara couldn't work out whether to look at Danny or her Dad, but instead settled for her Dad as she could tell Danny's reaction by how tight he was holding her hand, which was currently fairly tight. Her Dad on the other hand was beginning to look quite upset. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. I'm not going to report it or anything, I'm fine right?" She looked back to Danny at this point, who nodded in reassurance. As soon as he'd responded she looked back to her Dad. "Do something for me?"

"Anything darling…"

"Take Linda home. Tell her to get over herself and grow up, and then tell her to forget all this. I can't make Ellie like her, but I'll sure give it a go myself. I think this proves how stupid and silly this has all got." Dave nodded, leaning down and kissing her head gently.

"I'll come and see you tomorrow, and then once you're out we'll all get together and talk this through. I'll make my point very clear to her though – nobody touches my daughter." Clara smiled at him, his protective face was something she'd always known and it always made her smile. He left soon after and her attention turned back to Danny.

"My head kinda hurts…" She went in to sarcastic moany mode almost immediately, wanting to change the topic.

"I'm not surprised, the fireplace is hard. They said your scan was clear though, so just a bad headache to come for you I suppose. Do you feel okay otherwise?" Danny when concerned was almost the man nobody else ever got to experience, she felt privileged – most of the time.

"Fine, it's sort of like a bad hangover? I just want to get home now… is Ellie okay?"

"Last time I saw she was okay, just worried about her Mummy. Very observant child we have there, she's either going to be bright or clingy."

"Or both just like her Daddy." Clara looked down at their hands, "I'm not going anywhere I assure you." Danny let go, looking a little sheepish.

"Sorry… sorry. I'd thought about what I would do if I ever came close to losing you, I didn't realise quite how terrified I would be in reality."

They both fell silent then, sometimes words did not need to be spoken and this was one of those moments. Clara took Danny's hand back again but looked over at all the machines she was hooked up to, however much she might pretend she wasn't scared right now – she was. What happened with Linda was a mutual fault, they'd both let things get too far, they'd both let things get to them they shouldn't have. Okay so Linda may have been the underlying problem here, but Clara knew right now that she shouldn't have let things go this bad untreated. Today could have been her last day, she could have been leaving Ellie without a mother, and wouldn't that be ironic? No, not ironic, tragic. Not only that but she would have left Danny too; everything they still had to come could have been over in an instant.

They'd named Ellie after her Mum. Right now, her Mum would have been so disappointed. Granted if her Mum was still around, Linda would never have been a problem, but that wasn't exactly the point. Today was the sort of day she had always promised her Mum she'd never let happen, she promised never to let her Dad down, but where were they now?  
>Clara returned her gaze to the ceiling for a moment before Danny's thumb started to wipe at her cheeks. She was crying, of course she was crying, she was sad.<p>

"You're thinking about your Mum aren't you?" She turned her head back to face him, slightly confused (and getting more than a little frustrated that she couldn't sit up properly).

"How did you…?" Clara asked, trying to clear the rest of her tears, but Danny took her other hand as well.

"You've got that look, an inherent happiness tinged with sadness. Except today you're crying too, which means you think you've let her down." Danny spoke knowingly.

"I don't think, I know. I promised her I would always look after Dad, I would never let anything get in the way of that, but look what I've gone and done…." Danny stopped her there, shaking his head. He didn't say anything, just got up and walked out. 3 minutes and 21 seconds later (she counted), he arrived back with Ellie in his arms and a nurse who came and sat the bed up for her. Once she was settled, Danny handed a whining Ellie over to her, who immediately settled upon sight of Clara.

"You have given your parents the best gift they could ask for. Things might have gotten a little out of hand here, but you're the one lying in a hospital bed right now. I may never have met her, but I'm pretty sure if your Mum was here right now, she'd be fussing over you and cooing over Ellie. Certainly she wouldn't be shouting at you about anything else." He was right, he was always right. Clara just nodded; there was no need for arguing with that. Ellie was staring at her and gurgling something to herself, innocent to everything that had happened.  
>Danny left soon after to visit the loo, leaving Clara and Ellie alone.<p>

"Don't ever tell him I said this, but your Daddy is usually right. Today he was spot on. Your Nana would be so proud of you, and your Granddad loves you so very much. You're going to have the best I can give you, and that includes your whole family which, unfortunately, might mean we both have to get to endure Linda." Clara smiled slightly as Ellie let out a small noise which sounded quite disgruntled. "I know kid, but we'll struggle through together… all 3 of us."


End file.
